Israeli troops fire on crowd of protesters

Witnesses reported missiles and shells.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israeli forces fired into a large crowd of Palestinians demonstrating against the invasion of a neighboring refugee camp, witnesses said. At least 10 Palestinians were killed, all children and teenagers, a Palestinian health official said.
At least 50 people were wounded, 36 critically, Palestinian hospital officials said.
Palestinian witnesses saw a missile land in the middle of the crowd of 3,000 demonstrators, and footage from the Associated Press Television Network showed smoke and debris flying as a large explosion rocked the area today. The footage then showed Palestinians carrying the wounded, including children, from the smoky scene.
Military sources said on condition of anonymity that a helicopter and a tank fired one round each near the crowd after soldiers felt threatened.
But Palestinian witnesses said four missiles and four tank shells were fired, and they also said they heard machine-gun fire from tanks.
Military investigation
Defense sources said senior officers, including the chief of staff, were in an emergency meeting to investigate the attack.
"We are still checking the event. This is a combat zone filled with explosive devices, and it is premature to know exactly what happened this afternoon in Rafah," army spokeswoman Maj. Sharon Feingold said.
The demonstrators were marching down the busy main street of Rafah town, protesting against the Israeli invasion of the nearby Tel Sultan neighborhood in Rafah refugee camp. When the crowd was less than a mile from the besieged camp, the helicopter and tank began firing, witnesses said.
The wounded were evacuated to the Rafah hospital by ambulance, private cars and donkey carts, witnesses said. The hospital stairs and floors were drenched in blood as doctors shouted for help and blood donations. Hospital staff treated the wounded on the floors after quickly running out of beds.
Dr. Moawiya Hassanain, a senior Palestinian Health Ministry official, said at least 10 people were killed and 50 wounded. Of the wounded, 23 were critically hurt and 13 were in "hopeless" condition. Most of the wounded were children, he said.
"We cannot handle the situation; no hospital in the world can handle the situation," Dr. Hassanain said.
"I got instruction from President [Yasser] Arafat to mobilize all our teams to Rafah immediately and declare a state of emergency all over Gaza Strip hospitals."
Harsh denunciation
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath told The Associated Press the attack was "a terrorist massacre and a terrorist war crime."
The strike came as Israeli troops stormed homes in the Palestinian refugee camp in an ongoing search for militants and illegal weapons, confining tens of thousands of residents to houses without electricity or water.
The invasion, launched Tuesday, knocked out power in the camp, home to an estimated 90,000 people, local Palestinian officials said. By today, they said, water service had been halted as well.
Twenty Palestinians -- the highest single-day death toll in more than two years -- were killed on the first day of the army's "Operation Rainbow" offensive. The victims included a 13-year-old boy and his 16-year-old sister.
International condemnation mounted against the operation, and the United States was asking Israel for "clarification," said Paul Patin, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.
President Bush has described the violence as "troubling" but said Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorism.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the Gaza offensive as "unacceptable and wrong."
The United Nations and European Union demanded an end to the incursion, which Israeli security officials said would last at least a week.
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